“Why did you abandon us?”
The face of the young man, who seemed to be in his mid-twenties, was thin and haggard.
He was wearing a royal army uniform on the outside, but the fabric that was sticking out around his neck was so dirty that it was embarrassing to call it shabby.
However, his eyes were filled with venom.
“He seems to be a serf who escaped from Pagos.”
The subordinate added.
“A serf?”
The serfs of Pagos were known to have fought against the royal army, so Kaian could not readily understand why he would show up to snipe him wearing the clothes he borrowed.
“Even if it is a land that is far from Rowen and attached to the royal territory, how can you just ignore us overnight?”
“You idiot! How dare you say such nonsense to the Duke!”
The subordinate, aware of Kaian, kicked the buttocks of the kneeling man. Even after making a short sound, the man persistently told Kaian what he wanted to say.
"Didn't you say you'd make us commoners!"
The person who had been glaring at him as if he was going to kill him just a moment ago suddenly became discouraged and started to cry.
"You said you'd let us choose what we want to do and live! You said you'd make a farmers' association and distribute the crops we harvest evenly so that we could eat well and live well!"
The man's attitude changed and he looked anxious like a lost child.
"Where is this law? Didn't you say there's hope for our lives too?"
Only then did he understand why a serf possessed by evil had snuck into the royal army and chased him all the way to the edge of Rowen.
"If only the promise had been kept, my nephew born to my sisters wouldn't have grown up as a slave who digs the ground."
"I'm sorry."
When Kaian apologized, the eyes of the serf and the soldiers standing guard grew wide.
"Let him go now."
"That's ridiculous. Even so, how can you do something about the man who tried to take Your Highness’ life?”
“It’s okay, let him go.”
Maybe it was because he heard that.
Let's drink, Rowena!
The Rowen people called themselves by an old word that contained pride in the land blessed by the sun.
The serfs of Pagos also called themselves that.
Kaian felt like he saw a world beyond the report.
He was busy ruling Rowen, so he rarely had a chance to go to Pagos in person. He had visited the capital twice after the war, so he had only stopped by the warehouse on the way down.
So how could he know what they were thinking?
The face of the young man, who seemed to be in his mid-twenties, was thin and haggard.
He was wearing a royal army uniform on the outside, but the fabric that was sticking out around his neck was so dirty that it was embarrassing to call it shabby.
However, his eyes were filled with venom.
“He seems to be a serf who escaped from Pagos.”
The subordinate added.
“A serf?”
The serfs of Pagos were known to have fought against the royal army, so Kaian could not readily understand why he would show up to snipe him wearing the clothes he borrowed.
“Even if it is a land that is far from Rowen and attached to the royal territory, how can you just ignore us overnight?”
“You idiot! How dare you say such nonsense to the Duke!”
The subordinate, aware of Kaian, kicked the buttocks of the kneeling man. Even after making a short sound, the man persistently told Kaian what he wanted to say.
"Didn't you say you'd make us commoners!"
The person who had been glaring at him as if he was going to kill him just a moment ago suddenly became discouraged and started to cry.
"You said you'd let us choose what we want to do and live! You said you'd make a farmers' association and distribute the crops we harvest evenly so that we could eat well and live well!"
The man's attitude changed and he looked anxious like a lost child.
"Where is this law? Didn't you say there's hope for our lives too?"
Only then did he understand why a serf possessed by evil had snuck into the royal army and chased him all the way to the edge of Rowen.
"If only the promise had been kept, my nephew born to my sisters wouldn't have grown up as a slave who digs the ground."
"I'm sorry."
When Kaian apologized, the eyes of the serf and the soldiers standing guard grew wide.
"Let him go now."
"That's ridiculous. Even so, how can you do something about the man who tried to take Your Highness’ life?”
“It’s okay, let him go.”
In the end, the serf was released as he said. The man who had been tied up for the crime of trying to take Kaian’s life seemed unable to believe that he had been released.
“I did not consider you worthless.”
At the time, it was true that he had misjudged because he did not know that Valquiterre was this insane. If he had known that Valquiterre would raise an army and attack because things did not go his way, Kaian would have made a different judgment.
However, at that time, Valquiterre was so hurt that he offered to ‘mediate’ his relationship with a woman who would not even meet him, so he had no choice but to believe it. Looking back, it was such a meaningless thing.
Did he give up his golden land in exchange for providing a place for him to meet Claudel?
“I was a lacking lord.”
The serf who was released fell down at Kaian’s feet and cried loudly.
“When we drink together, we also shout ‘Rowena.’”
Kaian patted the back of the sobbing serf.
"What is your name?"
The man who was in a mess of tears looked at him with fearful eyes. His eyes were worried that he might be harmed.
"I will tell my Pagos consul to give you a high position."
Then, the man who had been trying to take Kaian's life so badly began to cry as if he was about to suffocate.
"Listen. Prepare a horse and travel expenses so that this man can return to Pagos."
At that order, the soldiers who had been preparing to torture the man who was trying to assassinate the head of the military in the middle of a war, and who had ordered him to do so, looked moved and quietly put away the clubs and tongs. On Kaian's way back to the barracks, one of his subordinates asked him.
"Why are you doing this?"
"What?"
"I thought you would punish him severely."
He was also surprised by his own actions. Kaian thought that he had to have authority in everything. If others were to look up to him and be afraid of him, then they needed to be afraid to some extent. But listening to others' circumstances is affection. Two opposing forces cannot be contained in one bowl. The position of the head of the family was suddenly inherited at the young age of only a teenager. Kaian became a difficult and scary person to fill the lack of authority and not look easy. It was not a decision made after much thought, but almost an instinctive choice.
However, when he thought back to his late father, something was different. Now that he had a proper son, he too became a father, but Kaian still felt that something was lacking in his role as a lord. If only he could have asked the previous Duke of Temnes.
Unfortunately, all the adults who could have advised him had died young, so he sometimes felt suffocated.
“When we drink together, we also shout ‘Rowena.’”
Unfortunately, all the adults who could have advised him had died young, so he sometimes felt suffocated.
“When we drink together, we also shout ‘Rowena.’”
Maybe it was because he heard that.
Let's drink, Rowena!
The Rowen people called themselves by an old word that contained pride in the land blessed by the sun.
The serfs of Pagos also called themselves that.
Kaian felt like he saw a world beyond the report.
He was busy ruling Rowen, so he rarely had a chance to go to Pagos in person. He had visited the capital twice after the war, so he had only stopped by the warehouse on the way down.
So how could he know what they were thinking?
He decided to release the serfs as commoners because he thought the gains outweighed the losses, and he had not decided solely for their happiness.
But today, before he could gather information, draw a big picture, and calculate the abacus beads in his head, he comforted the crying person without realizing it.
"That's right. I guess I'm becoming more generous now that I have a child."
With the hand that was used to cut off the one who was grieving like a human blade, he could pat the back of the one who was crying.
Maybe that’s why he became generous to the world after the child was born. Maybe it was because he wanted someone to be generous and pay attention to Julien when the child was in trouble because of something and he couldn’t hold him.
Only then did Kaian realize why he felt that his dignity as a lord and a head of the household was different when he thought of his deceased father?
His father was also a father.
After having a child to succeed him, Kaian could finally realize that.
It was harder to be respected than to be feared.
However, Julien’s existence changed Kaian.
When he thought of the boy who was full and in a good mood, showing his toothless gums and smiling, he felt a warm warmth fill his chest.
“If you’re going to pass down the territory, it would be good to give him at least Pagos.”
“Huh? That, that’s what it was?”
There was no reason to spread the emotion he felt here and there.
The Duke of Vermont could not believe the current situation.
He had come to the battlefield, but he had no plans to fight.
People were a precious resource in the fierce and harsh north.
So how could he draft the people who were born and raised in the Valmonde territory to go to the battlefield?
It was a pity that even one person would get hurt.
Looking back, it may seem like he had done something bad to Claudel, but the Duke of Vermont was confident that if he were to weigh the life of a woman with an incurable disease and several people in the territory on a scale, no one would throw stones at him.
That's why he bought the Sol Continent mercenary group and had them take Valmonde's precious life. The impulsive alcohol he drank out of boredom was the cause of his trouble.
After one or two drinks, he became very drunk, and when he opened his eyes after a long, deep sleep, he could not believe it, but Claudel was looking down at him.
'What the hell is this? You can't solve it right now!'
'How are you feeling?'
Claudel was seeing this face for the first time in her life.
'I feel like my life is being mortgaged and I can't move.'
She had been a weakling since she first came to the Castle de Valmonde.
So she had no choice but to say yes, yes, whatever the Duke of Vermont told her to do.
'You. Is that something you can say to me!?'
But today, before he could gather information, draw a big picture, and calculate the abacus beads in his head, he comforted the crying person without realizing it.
"That's right. I guess I'm becoming more generous now that I have a child."
With the hand that was used to cut off the one who was grieving like a human blade, he could pat the back of the one who was crying.
Maybe that’s why he became generous to the world after the child was born. Maybe it was because he wanted someone to be generous and pay attention to Julien when the child was in trouble because of something and he couldn’t hold him.
Only then did Kaian realize why he felt that his dignity as a lord and a head of the household was different when he thought of his deceased father?
His father was also a father.
After having a child to succeed him, Kaian could finally realize that.
It was harder to be respected than to be feared.
However, Julien’s existence changed Kaian.
When he thought of the boy who was full and in a good mood, showing his toothless gums and smiling, he felt a warm warmth fill his chest.
“If you’re going to pass down the territory, it would be good to give him at least Pagos.”
“Huh? That, that’s what it was?”
There was no reason to spread the emotion he felt here and there.
***
The Duke of Vermont could not believe the current situation.
He had come to the battlefield, but he had no plans to fight.
People were a precious resource in the fierce and harsh north.
So how could he draft the people who were born and raised in the Valmonde territory to go to the battlefield?
It was a pity that even one person would get hurt.
Looking back, it may seem like he had done something bad to Claudel, but the Duke of Vermont was confident that if he were to weigh the life of a woman with an incurable disease and several people in the territory on a scale, no one would throw stones at him.
That's why he bought the Sol Continent mercenary group and had them take Valmonde's precious life. The impulsive alcohol he drank out of boredom was the cause of his trouble.
After one or two drinks, he became very drunk, and when he opened his eyes after a long, deep sleep, he could not believe it, but Claudel was looking down at him.
'What the hell is this? You can't solve it right now!'
'How are you feeling?'
Claudel was seeing this face for the first time in her life.
'I feel like my life is being mortgaged and I can't move.'
She had been a weakling since she first came to the Castle de Valmonde.
So she had no choice but to say yes, yes, whatever the Duke of Vermont told her to do.
'You. Is that something you can say to me!?'
'What can I say that I can't?'
Claudel smiled at him.
'My uncle has never tried to talk to me.'
'What are you talking about?'
'Why? Don't you remember? If I tell you that I saw my mother, she could die because of me.'
Claudel's face, as she spoke of her old memories, seemed to have lost all emotion.
'You threatened me.'
That's why her spine tingled.
It was because her face was like the expression of a literal messenger of God descending at some moment, like the Last Judgment. As if the severity of the crime had already been determined and all that was left was to condemn her.
And while Claudel was questioning him about the abuse she had suffered, behind her back, Evan was glaring at him with his eyes wide open. Evan’s eyes were burning as if he was going to fry him.
But now, Claudel was nowhere to be seen, and Evan would occasionally come to see him for a few days, stare blankly without saying a word, and then leave.
“Evan. Untie this.”
He began to seriously roast his weak brother.
“There seems to be some misunderstanding. You’ve been tying me up for days already.”
“Misunderstanding? I think it’s you who misunderstood.”
Claudel smiled at him.
'My uncle has never tried to talk to me.'
'What are you talking about?'
'Why? Don't you remember? If I tell you that I saw my mother, she could die because of me.'
Claudel's face, as she spoke of her old memories, seemed to have lost all emotion.
'You threatened me.'
That's why her spine tingled.
It was because her face was like the expression of a literal messenger of God descending at some moment, like the Last Judgment. As if the severity of the crime had already been determined and all that was left was to condemn her.
And while Claudel was questioning him about the abuse she had suffered, behind her back, Evan was glaring at him with his eyes wide open. Evan’s eyes were burning as if he was going to fry him.
But now, Claudel was nowhere to be seen, and Evan would occasionally come to see him for a few days, stare blankly without saying a word, and then leave.
“Evan. Untie this.”
He began to seriously roast his weak brother.
“There seems to be some misunderstanding. You’ve been tying me up for days already.”
“Misunderstanding? I think it’s you who misunderstood.”
When Evan, who had not responded to anything he said for several days, opened his mouth, the Duke of Vermont was so happy that he almost cried.
“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding did I have?”
“Why do you think you’re tied up with rope?”
The Duke of Vermont kept his mouth shut.
He had a feeling that if he said even one more word here, something bad would happen to him.
“I saw something incredible when I invaded Rowen.”
“What, what did you see?”
“Do you believe in resurrection?”
“Resurrection? What’s that?”
He was about to snap at him, asking what was so out of the blue.
“A dead person coming back to life.”
Evan laughed creepily.
“I never thought I’d see my dead wife there.”
“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding did I have?”
“Why do you think you’re tied up with rope?”
The Duke of Vermont kept his mouth shut.
He had a feeling that if he said even one more word here, something bad would happen to him.
“I saw something incredible when I invaded Rowen.”
“What, what did you see?”
“Do you believe in resurrection?”
“Resurrection? What’s that?”
He was about to snap at him, asking what was so out of the blue.
“A dead person coming back to life.”
Evan laughed creepily.
“I never thought I’d see my dead wife there.”
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